The ability to accurately identify people is becoming more and more important in today's world. The systems currently utilized today to detect and accurately identify individuals have proven to be very limited and inadequate for use in addressing many of today's needs in the area of access control. For one, the current systems utilize sensor technologies that are inadequate for detecting and accurately identifying target individuals from a distance. For example, there is a growing need to be able to accurately and quickly identify individuals traveling through points of entry and exit, such as at airports and border crossings where the sensing is necessarily performed from a distance.
Secondly, the types of information currently being sensed on target individuals by today's systems do not allow for detection at a distance. To achieve accurate and reliable identification, the systems typically involve the detection and measuring of one or more biometric parameters of the target individual. As such, the detection and measuring is generally accomplished through the use of sensors requiring either direct contact with or at least operation in very close proximity to the individual. In either case, the biometric measurement is typically performed with the individual's full knowledge and cooperation. For example, some typical sensors are finger print, eye or facial scanners which all require either direct contact or operation in very close proximity to the individual.
Furthermore, together with the limitations associated with distance, the systems currently in use today require controlled environmental conditions to operate successfully, such as with finger print, eye or facial scanners. Many of the applications arising in today's complex world are calling for systems that can detect and accurately identify individuals from distances of more than 50 meters away as well as in uncontrolled environmental conditions (such as when outside in cloudy, humid, windy, etc. types of conditions). Moreover, the type of information to be detected needs to be of the sort that facilitates accurate detection at such distances.
Accordingly, there exists a long felt need for an improved system and method for accurate biometric identification of target individuals from a distance that alleviates the inherent problems in the biometric identification systems currently being employed today for biometric identification; and which is better suited for use in applications calling for the detection and accurate identification of target individuals from distances of more than 50 meters away in uncontrolled environmental conditions.